[FIN] Waiting (Pingana & Na'al)

[mouselet]

The pride seemed to be adjusting well to the idea that one day soon they'd have a new Queen and King, which was good. Na'al only wished that she was less nervous about that day. Considering the fact that she'd been co-opted into being the Heiress, the navy lioness couldn't blame her grandmother for insisting that there be cubs before she formally stepped down as Queen.

Na'al swore that she and Maji were trying, but, well, so far nothing. Way to make a girl feel like a failure, Grandmother.

The lioness was alone for the moment, something that had become relatively unusual ever since the announcement. Pridemembers had developed a tendency to come up to her for the most unusual reasons, but Na'al felt it was important to hear them out and do what she could to listen and help them. It just meant she had very little downtime once she left her den in the morning.  

[mouselet]

The lioness' head jerked up, jolted out of her reverie by the soft voice. Turning, her gaze fell upon a handsome and half-familiar lion. Unfortunately, she couldn't remember his name, though she was certain he'd been around since long before she was born.

"Good day," she greeted him in return. "Ah...you're a Scout?" the Heiress hazarded. Scouts were some of the more haphazardly seen members of the pride, considering that their patrols took them out to the borders for varying amounts of time. Plus the rank sounded correct when paired with this particular lion.  

[mouselet]

"Oh!" Na'al stared at the lion before her who was showing ever courtesy anyone could ask for, and speaking so softly and politely and yet she had not at all expected this. Oh yes, she'd known for some time now that Spies existed, but she hadn't thought to meet them, especially considering that Maji was the Royal Escort, one day soon to be King, and Spies would fall under his auspices.

"Well, I'm very happy to meet you. None of your, ah, fellows has come forward yet, so I didn't exactly expect this," she explained to Pingana. She wondered how many other Spies there were. There had to be more than one, but it couldn't be a large group, not if they were to maintain secrecy.  

[mouselet]

The lioness nodded her understanding. The more she thought about it, the more logical this conversation was. After all, the Spies were necessary, but it was vital that they not be revealed to the pride as a whole. They didn't need panic in the Kitwana'antara, after all.

"I suppose asking you who the others are would be cheating," Na'al offered with a mischevious twinkle in her eyes. In fact now that she was thinking in those terms, the lioness wondered if she might be able to figure out who the others were before they too came up to her. Or without asking Maji.

She tactfully didn't reply to Pingana's comment about being the first to introduce himself to her. Whatever the issue there, it was for the Spies and Maji to deal with. Hopefully sooner rather than later.  

[mouselet]

The Heiress chuckled in response. She hadn't expected a Spy to be so personable, but then it did make sense that he would be. After all, Pingana's best defense against being identified was in being a normal lion. If no one thought he had anything to hide, they wouldn't begin to suspect.

So if she did guess wrong (and here she made a mental note to not share her guesses with anybody else, just in case) she could be accidentally ostracizing somebody unjustly. Which would be bad.

"Well, I certainly appreciate your coming to me, Pingana, and I hope you and your comrades will be able to come to me or Maji as you need in the future," Na'al told the lion as she got to her feet.